A skill matrix template for aerospace and defence component makers (free download)

Ask a plant head who can set the mill-turn for the Inconel bushes and he will answer at once. Ask who stands in during that setter's Diwali leave, and the answer slows down. A skill matrix writes the second answer down before it is needed. Names run down the left. Operations run across the top. Each cell holds a code for how far that person can be trusted on that operation.

Below sit lines you can drop into any spreadsheet this afternoon. It is drafted for a mixed unit. Strike out the columns you do not use and add your own part families, such as hinge fittings, ducting spools or flight controller boards.

Header: unit, area (CNC cell, fabrication bay, avionics bench, tool room), month, supervisor, inspector.
Column A: employee name and code.
Column B: present grade and its grant date.
Column C: shift (A, B or night).
CNC cell: three-axis load and run; tool change and work offsets; probing cycle; five-axis trunnion set-up; mill-turn set-up; first-piece CMM check; CAM proving.
Fabrication bay: shear and laser nesting; press-brake bending to springback chart; hammer forming over hardwood blocks; thin-gauge TIG with back-purge; Cleco and rivet on jig; final fit-up.
Avionics bench: through-hole soldering; fine-pitch and BGA rework; crimp and pull test; conformal coating and masking; functional test bench diagnosis.
Tool room: surface grinding; wire EDM; hand fitting, scraping and blueing; gauge checking on the surface plate; tool trial on a sample part.
Records column: traveller and stamp training passed, with date.
Each skill cell: level code, assessor's initials, date granted.
Code 0: untrained.
Code 1: has watched the operation on live work.
Code 2: performs it under supervision; a senior signs each job.
Code 3: performs it alone; the part cleared inspection.
Code 4: can teach the operation and assess a trainee.
Recheck column: date by which each code 3 or 4 must be confirmed again.
Footer row: number of code 3 or 4 names per operation, per shift.
Shading rule: an operation with fewer than two code 3 or 4 names on a shift turns red.

1. 1

   Choose operations that halt work when missing

   Walk each bay with the supervisor. Note every operation where one absence idles a spindle, a jig or a test rack. Those are your columns. Skip chores anybody learns in an hour.

2. 2

   Enter the present truth

   Start from the supervisor's view, then test it against recent travellers, CMM reports and test logs. If nobody recalls a person running a trunnion set-up alone, that cell is code 2 at most.

3. 3

   Complete the footer and shading

   Count independent names per operation and shift. Shade the thin ones red. This step turns a register into an early warning.

4. 4

   Fix the evidence rule

   From today a code rises only on a real job, with the assessor's initials and the traveller or test record as proof. Back-dated cells are not allowed.

• The line supervisor writes each grant on the day a code rises, not at month end.
• The inspector countersigns codes 3 and 4, since both rest on parts that cleared inspection.
• The office holds the master copy and files the proof with each training record.
• The owner scans it monthly, reading only red cells and recheck dates falling due.
• Every operator sees his own row, so the next cell is a visible target.

Over time, link codes to grades and pay. Once code 3 on a trunnion set-up carries a titled grade and a published band, setters chase the next cell for their own reasons. For machining, the CNC learning and development page plans that route. For soldering and test racks, see the avionics learning and development page.

Red cells come first. Where would one fever stop a machine? Recheck dates come second. A solderer who last reworked a BGA a year ago may need a fresh practice card ahead of the coming lot. Trainee rows come third. If a helper's row has not moved for a quarter, ask the senior why. The usual reply is that nobody gave him hours to teach.

A cell that looks green can still hide fragility. Check which code 3 names are near retirement, on long leave or rumoured to be talking to a rival. Mark them with a small asterisk. A trunnion column with two names, one of whom retires at Diwali, is really a one-name column. Shade it amber and plan the understudy now.

• Forty columns nobody reads, when twelve would show the risk.
• Codes granted for years served rather than for an inspected part.
• A single sheet for all shifts, hiding that nights lack an independent setter.
• Updating it in a rush the week before a customer audit.
• Locking it in the office, so operators never see their next cell.

Paste the lines into a sheet and fill one area first, perhaps the bay that keeps you awake. Extend it once the format holds. The people patterns it exposes are listed on the aerospace and defence components hub. Converting red cells into a training calendar is covered by the learning and development process. For why this register matters so much, read the only operator authorised on that machine.